V FOR VENDETTA

Description: Set against the futuristic landscape of totalitarian
Britain, V For Vendetta tells the story of a mild-mannered young woman named
Evey (NATALIE PORTMAN) who is rescued from a life-and-death situation by a
masked man (HUGO WEAVING) known only as “V.” Incomparably charismatic and
ferociously skilled in the art of combat and deception, V ignites a revolution
when he urges his fellow citizens to rise up against tyranny and oppression. As
Evey uncovers the truth about V’s mysterious background, she also discovers the
truth about herself – and emerges as his unlikely ally in the culmination of his
plan to bring freedom and justice back to a society fraught with cruelty and
corruption. —
Amazon.com

In the
late 1980s a Leftie writer named Alan Moore, depressed at the state of
Thatcherite Britain, wrote a comic book about a superhero of sorts named
“V” who almost single-handedly brings down a future fascist British
government. The comic’s name was V for Vendetta and, sure, it was a
wish-fulfillment of sorts. But it was also a dark and gloomy tale that,
like Orwell’s 1984, explored the methods by which
governments keep their populace in fear and manipulate them into doing
their will.

Flash forward to the early 2000s, and V
for Vendetta is the latest in a series of DC and Vertigo comic titles
to be made into a movie (the previous were
Batman Begins and Constantine), this
time by the famed Wachowski brothers of the Matrix
movies fame and Joel Silver. How the Wachowski brothers, who also wrote
the screenplay, ever managed to talk co-producer Joel Silver into signing
the checks for this project is a bit of a mystery because — depending on
your point of view —V for Vendetta is either the bravest or the stupidest movie made in
the past decade.

"A movie in which the good guy blows up the
government!"

The
bravest because in what the movie says needs to be said and it is brave to
say them in the current political atmosphere. Slower audience members may
only see a comic book movie in which a guy in a mask takes on some bad
guys. Sharp-witted audience members will however having no problem in
spotting the film’s political parables. You see, while sci-fi movies
always have “rebels” battling it out against oppressive regimes (see:
Star Wars), V for Vendetta is the most
avowedly political of them all. Like all good sci-fi, it is more about the
present than it is about the future. After all, V for Vendetta is a
movie in which the good guy blows up the government . . .

Stupid,
because I don’t think the movie will make a single cent of profit. Much
has changed in the past decade or so since V for Vendetta first saw
light as a comic book. Capitalism is in, and revolution is out. Also much
of the meaning attached to the comic’s visual iconography has changed in
the interim. Suicide bombers strapped with sticks of dynamite and huge
bombs produced using fertilizer to blow up government buildings now have
other uncomfortable histories attached to them. How audiences will respond
is unclear, but even with George W. Bush’s approval ratings at an all-time
low it is unlikely that mainstream American audiences will respond warmly
to any film that pronounces that “people shouldn’t be afraid of their
government, governments should be afraid of their people.”

Initial
reports on the Internet spoke of the movie changing the comic’s original
hard-hitting premise of a home-grown British fascist regime to that old
“World War II having been won by the Nazis” alternate universe plot
device. This led to speculation amongst fans of the comic that Hollywood
was going to tone down its uncompromising political aspects to make the
movie more palatable to cinema audiences. Fortunately none of this is
true. Instead the comic’s original premise is updated to make the source
material even more relevant to the current global post-9/11 environment.

For
those who want a guy in a mask movie, there are some superhero/Matrix-style
action sequences. Also, stuff (we won’t say what) gets blown up real good
at the end. But for audiences who want more there is more: the script is
surprisingly literate and intelligent, and makes no concessions to the
lowest common denominator. By necessity the movie condenses a lot of the
original material, but it doesn’t tone things down: it remains defiantly
antiauthoritarian.

The cast which includes some noted British
thespians such as Stephen Rea and Stephen Fry does sterling work, even
though surprisingly enough John Hurt overacts badly in his role as the
arch dictator. Despite all the evidence in Attack of
the Clones and the other Star Wars
prequels, Natalie Portman shows that she can indeed act. Even Hugo Weaving
(Lord of the Rings) does okay despite the
constraint of being behind an inexpressive mask for the length of the
entire movie (no, just like in the comics we never get to see the face
behind the mask).

As a
fan of the comic I feel that they could have given the movie a darker and
grubbier look, but that is a minor niggle. When you think about it, it is
a miracle that the movie even got made in the first place.

So
go see V for Vendetta in the cinemas even if you’re not of a
countercultural bend (the movie says things you need to hear) before it
disappears. While it is probably destined for a short theatrical run, the
odds are good that like Serenity it is
likely to be a cult hit on DVD one day as good word of mouth spreads.